A home in the 700 block of North Vancouver’s Blueridge Avenue was heavily damaged by fire Thursday evening.
Luckily, members of the family who lived there all escaped unharmed.
The fire broke out in the residential neighbourhood around 11 p.m. Thursday evening.
Neighbours began calling 9-1-1 after they heard crackling sounds and saw flames shooting out of the roof.
When fire crews arrived on scene, the two-storey wooden home was engulfed in flame and heavy smoke, said Assistant Fire Chief Jason De Roy of District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.
The fire appeared to start in the carport area of the home and spread quickly into the attic space, said De Roy. Two cars parked in the driveway and carport area also caught on fire.
Firefighters fought the blaze from outside, as there was a concern about the structural stability of the house. Crews also used hoses to protect a neighbouring home directly to the west.
Ten firefighters from the City of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver were called in to help the 18 District of North Vancouver firefighters on the scene.
“It was a stubborn fire and there were hot spots,” said De Roy.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.
Neighbours reported that a man who lived in the home had been welding earlier in the evening.
Those reports were still unconfirmed on Friday afternoon.
De Roy said fire crews did find and move a tank of acetylene away from the fire danger.
But he said it’s “too early to tell” whether any welding activity was connected to the fire.
De Roy said victim services personnel were on scene Thursday assisting the family displaced from their burned home. Neighbouring homes immediately adjacent to the fire were also evacuated Thursday as a precaution. Those residents were later allowed back in to their houses.
Earlier the same night, residents of about 30 units in a three-storey apartment in the 100 block of 20th Street were also forced to temporarily evacuate their building after a cedar hedge caught fire and flames began to spread to the building’s cedar siding. Damage was minimal, however, and residents were allowed to return to their suites, said City of North Vancouver Fire Chief Dan Pistilli.
Pistilli said it’s possible a discarded cigarette may have caused the hedge to catch fire.
